Riel started his career in the solid waste field in 1990, where he managed landfill operations, as well as green waste and construction debris recycling systems for over 15 years. He then took a position as the Director of Operations for a water district. He returned to the solid waste industry after 5 years to become a General Manager for Athens Services in 2010. During his tenure at Athens, Riel oversaw an advanced composting operation and led in the design and building of the award-winning Sun Valley MRF and the recently opened Irwindale MRF designed to process 70 tph of single stream material. As VP of Resource Recovery, Riel took the lead in researching, developing and strategizing the implementation of the latest technologies in materials recovery.

Examples of these innovations include:

• The installation of one of the first robotic quality control sorters for PET.
• An AI/robot on the residue of the container line with the AI providing immediate feedback on system recovery
• The utilization of an auger screen to pre-process curbside green waste
• A first-of-its-kind screw press to harvest organics from mixed waste

Riel has recently retired and has taken a part time position with RRT as the VP of Technology Optimization. Riel has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Sciences.